NOTD and Tutorial: Bronzy, Coppery, Orangey, Glittery Gradient Nails

Yeah, I couldn't describe the exact shade of the nail polish I used, hence the title. These are my nails this week.

You know me, I'm a big fan of gradient nails.

Nails of the day care of Bobbie nail polish in Nectar, Elianto nail color in Bronzy, and Caronia nail polish in Sunset.

L-R: Nectar, Bronzy, Sunset

Unlike the other gradient nails I've created before, however, I did this week's nails using a sponge! Yes, after many failed attempts, I realized that the right sponge is the key to gradient sponging.

Read on for more pics and details on how I did this design.

I used Nectar (which is a nude peachy pink shade) as base color. For the gradient color, I used Bronzy. The sponge that I used made Bronzy appear gritty and gave it a glittery effect. I topped the whole thing off with a orange-based glitter polish to hide any harsh edges and make the design more sparkly.

For this, you're going to need the following.

Base coat

Base color

Gradient color

Glitter polish (optional)

Top coat

Sponge

I bought my sponges from Saizen but I think Etude House also has nail art sponges.

But of course you can use any kind of sponge or foamy material you have at home. I like this particular kind of sponge because it gives a really gritty and glittery effect.

Here's a video showing you what to do.

Steps:

1. Apply base coat to prevent your nails from staining.

2. Apply your base color. For this tutorial, I used a nude peachy pink shade (Bobbie in Nectar) as my base. Apply 1 to 2 coats, depending on the opacity of your polish.

3. Take your gradient color and put some of that on a plate. I used Elianto in Bronzy as my gradient color. I just put on an amount good for 1 to 2 nails at a time so that the polish wouldn't dry before I got to use it all.

4. Take your sponge and pick up some polish from the plate. Dab on the plate or a piece of paper to get any excess polish off the sponge.

5. Dab the polish on your nail, focusing on the tip. Since we're going for a gradient effect, pat the nail polish on the tip of your nail more heavily and make the color fade as you go downwards.

After that, you'll have something that looks like this...

Do the same thing to all of your nails and you'll have something like this...

Don't worry about the mess. That can easily be cleaned up.

6. Optional: Apply a glitter polish all over the nail to lessen any harsh edges and to give a more gradient effect. I used Caronia in Sunset.

7. Apply top coat of choice to protect your design.

8. Clean up any mess using a q-tip/cotton bud soaked in nail polish remover.

And that's it! Easy-peasey gradient nails. The sponge I used made the polish look glittery and gritty which I really liked. You can try experimenting with colors, too. :)

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! Are you gonna try this sometime? Lemme know! :)

Related Articles

21
comments

I've always wanted to try a gradient nail mani! Looking forward to your tutorial~Right now, I have my light purple Revlon "Gumdrop" polish and I also tried out the China Glaze crackle in "Platinum Pieces" but...I think I need a bold color for it to fully show. heh

This reminds me of a "bronzed goddess" type look! Anyways the nails look good, ive tried doing gradient nails before but they don't come out good- my lines look too harsh even with a glitter base. I think i'll try some out again though.!